Gangsters Paradise
by Allielove95
Summary: Left in debt by her father's sudden death, town librarian Belle French learns the hard way that no one breaks a deal with the notorious crime lord, Mr. Gold. Soon she finds herself intertwined with the gang life, constantly arguing and bickering with Gold, completely oblivious to the fact that he has fallen in love with her. AU
1. Only the Beginning

**Hey everybody! So this was a fun idea that came to me. However, in this story there is no curse and they are just regular Storybrooke folk. Before I forget, just a warning, there will be smut in later chapters (sorry I just couldn't resist). I will continue to update as much as I can. And as always, unfortunately I do not own Once Upon a Time.. or else there would be way more rumbelle sexy times. Enjoy!**

**Chapter One: Only the Beginning**

There was a strong smell of smoke, and a new fear fueled Belle. She raced ahead, unmindful of the other men who lagged behind her, trying to keep up. Her legs were numb, unused to this speed, and her lungs felt as though they were scorched from the intolerable burn. She forbade herself to think that it was too late and focused all of her strength on running towards the library.

Her heart pounded heavily to the beat of her feet which raced over the hard cement ground. Sweat beaded the top of her forehead, causing loose strands of her dark auburn hair to cling to it. Her throat continued to ache for air, while she felt her muscles stretch, pushing harder with every stride she took.

The warehouse had gone up in flames, and black smoke plagued the once blue skies of Storybrooke. Blurred images of what had gone down there were scarred in her brain, replaying over and over again in the depth of her mind.

Belle found herself shaking her head while she ran, somehow expecting that it would help her to get rid of the painful memory, the one she wanted so desperately to forget. However, Belle French didn't just want to rid her mind of one single memory, she wanted to forget _everything._

The beauty turned her neck for a brief moment, allowing her to realize she was alone now. No longer were sounds of footsteps trailing behind her, now the only paces of footsteps in the quiet deserted park belonged to her.

The other men that once trailed behind her must have ran a different way, straying from following her into such a public place. If they had any intelligence whatsoever they would pack their suitcases and leave the town at once, Belle noted to herself. There were more threats in the small town of Storybrooke than anyone could of ever imagined.

Then just like that, thoughts rushed to her brain, searching back for any memories of the last year but Belle refused. She couldn't think of _him,_ he had left her, abandoned her, and worst of all, he was gone forever.

Belle felt a single raindrop fall onto her nose, blending in with the stray tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes. She took a deep shaky breath in, taking her sleeve and wiping her eyes. Over the tall trees and rows of houses, Belle could spot the prominent clock tower. She was near at the library, where her apartment resided comfortably above it.

Without thinking, Belle made her way into town, ignoring anyone who dared to stop and ask her what was wrong. She couldn't face these people, not yet anyway, not after what had just happened.

The beauty stumbled into the base of the clock tower and up to her apartment. Fumbling for her keys which lay hidden in the depths of her pocket, Belle placed the one single golden key into her door and was shocked to already find the door unlocked. Her lungs began to burn again, panic taking over her entire insides. She could feel her heart pounding right through her chest, _had someone broken in? Had the sheriff come to ask her questions? _Then facing her fears and all the endless wanderings of possibilities, Belle forced the door open, using all her strength to not be frightened.

She stood in the entryway of the apartment for a few brief moments, allowing her hand to slide down to her boot to retrieve the small handgun that resided there. Her eyes took care in scanning her home, she examined the countertops and cushions on the couch, making sure that everything was just as she left it.

"Hello?" She heard the sound of her own voice loud and clear, and though she did her best to sound confident, she could even tell that she was afraid. Swallowing the large lump that had formed in her throat, Belle took a few paces forward and froze when she heard a crash coming from down the hallway. She raised the gun up at arms length, pointing it towards the direction of the strange noises.

"I'm not afraid of you" Belle called out sheepishly once more, slowly making her way down the narrow dark hallway. Then to her horror, she witnesses a shadow emerging from the bathroom.

"Well I hope not" the deep voice replied, "we've been friends since grade school" the familiar sound of her friend Robin Hoodfurd standing in front of her.

"Belle, what the hell?" His eyes opened wide when he saw the gun. "Where on earth have you been? And what are you doing with _that"_ he gestured towards the weapon that was still pointed at him.

"Oh" was all she could say, placing the gun onto the counter and suddenly found herself in Robin's arms. "I've been so worried about you" he nearly growled. Belle remained silent, plagued by her own thoughts that she found it difficult to speak. She didn't care where Robin had come from, it was like he knew she was in trouble, all she knew is that she needed him right now.

"I've been waiting here for four hours waiting for you" He spoke calmly, concerned for his friend.

"I -I" Belle started to choke on her own words, barely able to catch her own exhausted breath. "I think I'm in trouble, Robin, and a lot of trouble at that."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble could you of gotten into?" he refused to believe what he was hearing. This was Belle French, one of his best friends since childhood, a simple good hearted librarian and model citizen of Storybrooke. Everybody loved and trusted Belle, she had heart of gold, and she was certainly no_t _capable of trouble.. was she?

"There was an explosion at the warehouse" She breathed, pulling stray strands of her curls out of her face and tucking them behind her ears.

"Wait, slow down" Robin insisted, grabbing a hold of her tense shoulders. "You didn't cause it did you?"

She felt her whole body tense up at his question, and no longer could she control her sobs and tears. Belle turned around to avoid facing her friend.

"No" she stated lowly, placing her hands on her hips, resentfully, still trying to hold onto some self control over her shattered emotions.

_I didn't cause the explosion but I wish I had, I wish I had lit the match that caused the entire building to go up in flames, _Belle thought. _Maybe if I had lit it sooner **he** wouldn't of left me._

Continuing to space herself from Robin, Belle walked over to the sink, kicking off her boots in the process, then turning the facet on. She cupped the cold water in her dirty hands and splashing it on her face as if this were all a bad dream. He walked over and pulled her in from of him so that he could face her.

"Oh no" he pleaded, shaking his head, understanding what was happening. He had warned her before that this would happen. It all finally made sense, the explosion, her tears, it had all happened because of _him**.**_ Belle had worked for him for nearly a year, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

"I told you this would happen if you got involved with this life Belle- involved with _him_." Robin sounded like he was about to scold the beauty, but Belle had no recognition for what he had to say. Her breathing remained hesitant and shallow, her once porcelain face covered in a black thick fiery ash.

"Robin" she stuttered out the words, on the verge of crying. "_He's_ gone"

"You have to tell me what happened" He asked worriedly, holding her shoulders firmly, gazing into her blank ghostly stare.

"He- he left me" she stuttered, "he left me to take the fall for- everything" she continued to stutter out her cluttered sentence, through her short staggered sobs. It was clear to him that Belle was in shock, whatever had happened in the warehouse had really messed with her mind.

"He chose his power over me, he left me to die in that warehouse" she whispered, her gently shaken voice nearly sounding like a low sob choking up in her throat. Then Robin's eyes opened a little wider when he finally understood who the Beauty was talking about.

"He was nothing but trouble from the beginning; I knew he would hurt you like this" Her expression remained the same, the same confused bewildered expression that he had yet to solve.

"He loved me" she spoke then with a softer and quieter voice she muttered "or at least-" Belle paused for a brief moment, swallowing a lump in her tight throat "At least I thought he did-"

"Oh Belle" Robin pulled her close into a tight embrace, providing her with comfort and security, attempting to calm her down "A man like that is incapable of love." He added, rubbing her back tenderly, doing is best to provide comfort for her.

Maybe Robin was right, a man like Robert Gold was only out for himself, perhaps all along she had just been a silly pawn in his chess game. But it didn't matter now, he was gone, and he was never coming back.

She felt stupid and absolutely humiliated, but worst of all, she missed _him_ terribly. Before this life she had taken with him, she was a simple librarian, a role model citizen even; never daring to yearn for adventure for any place out of her cozy apartment, and now, she was a wanted criminal, abandoned and utterly alone.

_How did I end up here?_ She asked herself as she sat down on the bed, grabbing her pillow and tucking it firmly against her chest, hoping it would ease the pain. But she was wrong, there deep in her heart was a hole, one she might not ever be able to fill ever again.

** One year ago...**

Moe French's funeral had been small and quiet. Belle's father was a well liked man, a good father, a good friend, and it showed by the numerous amount of people that surrounded the spacious Church of his small service.

Belle stared at herself in the mirror for nearly ten minutes. She had been too small to remember what it was like for her mother's funeral, she would now have to go out and greet all of the guests. Taking a deep breath in, the beauty brushed down her black laced dress and pinched her cheeks to make herself look adequate for the part of the sad, grieving daughter.

White roses and beautiful decorative flowers plagued the room, as did the bitter sound of silence as everyone saw Belle walk in. She instantly realized that they were all most certainly talking about her. She gave a shy uncomfortable smile to those watching her, recognizing some of the towns citizens such as Archie Hopper, Leroy and Granny. They all watched her solemnly as if she were expected to do some kind of trick or entertain them in some way.

Across the church she spotted her ex-boyfriend Gaston LaRoux, dressed neatly in a black tuxedo, his beady green eyes fixated on her. She let out another shaky breath, the last thing she wanted to do was face all of these people, these distant relatives and townsfolk she barely knew.

"How you holding up?" Robin's voice sounded from behind her, making Belle feel a sense relief. He always had a way to make her feel better, feel comfortable and feel not so alone.

"I thought I could do this, I thought I would be able to handle this-" she started, letting out a rather devastated sigh.

"It's only been a couple weeks" Robin tried to soothe her, "It will get better with time" He reached out and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Belle smiled and gazed up at Robin, allowing herself to turn back around to face everyone else in the room.

That's when she saw _him_.

He was sitting there with his legs stretched out in front of him, supported by his gold cane which was leaning on his palms.

A swatch of sunlight shined through the dark stained windows of the church, catching streaks in his brown hair. Belle watched as other people approached him, carefully watching their step around such a powerful man. He was not a large man, but it didn't take away from his appearance, dark clothes, intimidating presence; but there were little things too that Belle noticed, like his dark eyes, the color of a sheer caramel brown, and the fact he wore two identical rings- each flat, wide and gold- he wore on the middle finger of each hand.

In her absent state of mind, she realized he was staring back at her. She looked away, fast, with this realization, quickening her pace as she attempted to bolt for a group of people to pretend to be indulged in conversation.

"Miss French" he called, his accented words sinking her down like an anchor heavily chained to her leg.

This was the man, the man everyone was afraid of, the one who also owned more than half the town of Storybrooke. He was dangerous, a man not to be crossed, a man not to be trifled with. She felt her body tense as he got up and made his way towards her. Before Gold had the chance to notice, Belle swallowed the lump of saliva in her mouth and shifted uncomfortably, childishly fiddling with her red painted fingernails.

"I just wanted to give you my condolences, Miss French" Mr. Gold spoke. Her heart nearly stopped to see such a man standing only inches from her face. "I'm sure your father will be missed" She did her best to avert his eyes from his direction .

The whole town of Storybrooke knew that Mr. Gold was a dreadful man and it was quite obvious that he was much more than an ordinary pawn shop owner. There were rumors that he ran a powerful unmatched criminal organization, rumors that over and over again were proved to be true, Mr. Gold was a crime lord.

Whenever someone seemed to get hurt or mysteriously disappear they knew it was his doing, but the complete lack of evidence and proof kept him out of jail. He was powerful- perhaps too powerful for his own good, but what on earth was he doing here?

"I don't mean to be rude Mr. Gold, but why are you here? You and my father were never friends." She managed to speak out, then under her breath she muttered "he hated you actually-" her voice trailed off in a defensive snarl.

To her surprise he let out a light chuckle at her hostility. "Well, miss French, it would seem that his death has me in a bit of a... predicament" he spoke, his thick charming accent disguised the darkness in his voice.

Belle narrowed her blue gaze at him, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean"

"You see, your father borrowed some money from me a while back that he never paid back, and as you know, I always collect debts" he clarified, his tone remaining calm and collected, unlike Belle's, who remained uneasy.

"Fine" the Beauty growled, irritated, "I'll pay it back, just tell me how much" she was already rummaging through her black small chain purse, searching for her wallet. At Belle's actions, Mr. Gold gave a slight laugh of amusement.

"Dearie, I'm afraid that the kind of money he borrowed will not be found at the bottom of your change purse"

"Well, how much did he owe you?" She continued to dig through her collection of recycled receipts, old gum wrappers and sticks of old lip balm.

Finally, she anxiously pulled out her black leather wallet and picked up her coffee and took a long much needed sip.

"Your father owed me fifty thousand dollars" He explained, causing Belle's stomach to harshly drop, as did her wallet. She felt the coffee enter her windpipe as she battled for air, coughing violently from the coffee she nearly just spat out of her mouth.

"I don't have that kind of money" she stated simply, while Mr. Gold raised his brow, a hidden smug expression disguised behind his eyes. "We'll just have to work something out then, don't we?" He paused, "What about that pretty little library of yours?"

Then something in Belle snapped. Over the past week she had been bombarded with opinions of relatives shoved down her throat, the financial decisions of her own life, and had to deal with the fact that her father, her only relative she is close with, died. A bold surge of anger swelled up inside her as she finally stood up to the beast that Mr. Gold was.

"How dare you" she spat, completely clouded by her blind rage, annoyed that he had the nerve to come to her on such a sacred and respectable occasion.

"What did you just say?" He asked, startled that she had just spoken back to him.

"You have no right to barge in on my father's funeral and tell me what to do, nobody decides my fate but me" she hissed back at him. Her hostile words caught him a little off guard, nobody ever dared to talk back to him like that, especially not a five foot-two librarian.

"You may bully everyone else in this town, but you will not bully me, Mr. Gold, at least not today." Her hisses almost making him flinch.

"Well unless you want to spend time in jail-"

"You can't do that!" She nearly yelled, cutting him off mid-sentence, drawing glances and looks from nearby people, who had stopped their own conversations to listen in on theirs. "You're threat doesn't even make sense, you cannot hold me hostage for my father's crimes, it's against the law"

"Oh but I can, Miss French, I've got connections in this town that you could only begin to comprehend-"

"You're despicable"

"And you're in over your head in debt" he shot back, his stern voice nearly causing Belle to cry. "It's too bad your father kept such a secret from his poor daughter" he spoke, then suddenly adjusting his position when he noticed that the blue eyed beauty had started to cry.

Belle herself had felt the tears start to form in the corners of her eyes, and as much as she resented them, she knew it was only a matter of time before her courage and strength would ware off.

"What exactly do you want from me, Mr. Gold?" the true nature of her softness came through in that one simple sentence, which Mr. Gold couldn't help himself but pity.

"Report to me this Saturday, come by the pawn shop and I can see what I can do."

Before she had the chance to speak or even protest his command, Mr. Gold was gone, leaving nothing behind but confusion and uncertainty. Belle watched as everyone else in the room, quickly turned back to one another, pretending that they had not been listening to that very personal conversation.

"What was that all about?" Robin cam up behind Belle, "why was Mr. Gold here?" He questioned, worriedly.

"It was nothing" the beauty swallowed, attempting to hide her tears and putting on a fake smile, hoping she would forget all about the threats that Gold had just made to her. However, as much as Belle wished that this was the end of it, she knew Gold would not let this go so lightly- deep down in her gut she knew his threats were only the beginning.

* * *

**Hey guys, so as you can see, this story will be back and forth between past and present, eventually leading up to the events that happened at the warehouse. I hope its not too confusing! Anyway I really like the way that I've mapped this story out so far and look forward to continuing it.**

**Next Chapter: Belle gets a proposition from Mr. Gold regarding her debt and in the present, seeing that Belle has been getting sick, Robin encourages her to go see a doctor, and they are both shocked at what they find out.**

**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Nine Weeks

**Don't feet dearies, this is a 100% RUMBELLE fic! I just threw in Robin in the story because he is one of Belle's friends on the show and I thought he would make a good supporting character. Also, I would like to address the fact that Gold is in fact an asshole at first. But even in Skin Deep Rumple was very rude to Belle, throwing her in dungeons and yelling at her etc. I look forward to trying to make him the redeemable character he is on the show! Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! They truly do mean a lot!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Nine Weeks**

**Present**

The room was dark, so dark that he made sure his eyes were open, fearing that he had gone blind. He couldn't see anything, his eyes desperately searching for some source of light amongst the endless darkness.

He didn't dare to build up enough courage to call out to see if he was alone, he feared that no one would answer, meaning that he was trapped, secluded in this dark mysterious place.

His body was covered in bruises, and he didn't need to see them to know. His joints and bones were tender and sore, and he could only begin to imagine what his appearance might look like. No longer was he the clean, neat and shaven successful man he once was, but now a victim, stripped of any power here.

He sat still for a while longer, blinking his brown eyes in the dark, wanting nothing more to find a clue how to escape, hoping that an opportunity would allow him to leave this retched place. He waited patiently for a noise, any sort of sound that might give him any hints to what was going on.

Silence.

Alone and isolated in the black room, he couldn't shake off the feeling that somebody was watching him. As he tried to move, he felt the tightness of the thick ropes around his wrists and feet, creating a sudden feeling of panic. _How long had he been here? _There was a scorching burn of inflammation in his dry throat that made it difficult for him to swallow, forcing him to let out another gargling cough. A throbbing pain pounded on his forehead, it felt as if he had been hit over the head with a brick. He was a smart man, and he certainly didn't need to see the physical blood to know that he was bleeding.

_How did he get here? What was happening?_

Then he remembered.

Like a scattered puzzle, flashes of memories came flooding back into his brain. They had been at the warehouse- _yes_- that's where it had happened, that's where he was _taken_. Then suddenly, it was if all the other memories evaporated, his mind demolishing all other thoughts to focus on one thing:

Belle.

He had abandoned her, he horrifically came to realize. He promised to meet her, he promised everything would be alright. But he was wrong. He had left her like everyone who had ever left him in his life. He needed to get back to her, and every muscle in his body screamed at him to do so. He just needed to get out of this room, he desperately wished to escape the ropes he was tied up in, to escape this cell that his captor held him captive and to have Belle in his arms once more.

The more he thought of the beauty, the more images of the beautiful brown headed librarian came to his mind, her beautiful smile, her laugh- they had gone through so much and now, she might never forgive him.

The headache pounded to the point where it hurt to think. He felt himself become dizzy, unable to organize thoughts. His eyelids grew heavy again, as they did last time before he was knocked out and with the image of his Belle in mind, everything went blurry and faded into black once more.

* * *

**Past**

The dreary Saturday morning had dawned and Belle found herself staring at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. She had found a blue blouse and an appropriate black skirt to face the day with.

_"Come by the pawn shop on Saturday and I'll see what I can do", _Gold's words haunted the back of her mind as she braided her hair nicely in a side fishtail braid, pinning her bangs back behind her ears. She allowed herself to look at herself for a moment longer before taking a deep breath in, it was going to be a long day.

Collecting her purse and grabbing an apple to go, Belle carefully locked the door to her apartment and took the elevator downstairs into the library. Making sure all the books were in their proper shelves, the beauty quickly arranged the scattered books on the counter into a neat pile before she left.

Her tall black high heels clicked on the freshly paved sidewalk as she found her way to the small pawn shop at the end of the road. She braced herself before opening the intimidating red door. A small chime of a bell sounded as she walked in, startling her and causing her to bump into one of the side displays.

"Ah, Miss French, I almost thought you wouldn't show" Mr. Gold appeared from the back of the shop slowly, his gold cane in his palms, making a "clunk" sound every time it hit the wooden floor. She watched as he relocated himself behind the front desk. His dark eyes stared at her now, watching as a hawk would watch its prey.

"Well, after your threats at my father's funeral, you made yourself hard to ignore, Mr. Gold" she retorted boldly, refusing to further become a victim to his intimidation.

"You're here now, and that's all that matters" he stood behind the counter, pulling out a small cream towel and started to polish off an antique white tea set.

"So, what now?" Belle crossed her arms over her chest, raising a her eye brows at him.

"Now, we can get to business" he stated, enticingly.

Belle backed away slightly at his words, suddenly feeling rather nervous about why e had summoned her here.

"I'm not that kind of girl" she spoke up bravely, "unlike most girls in this town, I do have some self respect"

It was Gold who looked nervous and flustered now, almost looking shocked at what she thought he was implying, suddenly getting flashes of images into his brain that he tried very hard to ignore.

"I called you here, Miss French, to offer you a job. That way you could work off the debt your father has carelessly left you with" he admitted.

"What could I possibly offer you?" she questioned, narrowing her blunt stare at him. "The whole town knows this isn't exactly a legit pawn business-" she trailed off, observing his expression as it grew into a tedious grin.

"It would seem that I have paperwork that I am way too busy to deal with"

"You want me to.. file paperwork?" she repeated, unable to believe what she was hearing, while Gold simply nodded, continuing on with his polishing, pretending to not be interested in her answer.

"When did you want me to start?"

"You can start now" she saw him disappear for a few moments, then coming back with a stack of papers, dropping them on the desk nearest to her. Belle felt dizzy when she saw how much paperwork needed to be sorted and filed, wanting to let out an unenthusiastic groan of displeasure.

She placed her purse down on the side of the chair that Gold had pulled out for her and sat at the desk. She let out a sigh that was too quiet for Mr. Gold to hear and started to get to work.

Soon, getting lost in the piles of paperwork, she lost count on how many hours she had been there. Belle was certain however, that she had smudged her makeup because of her palm, arched upwards to keep her heavy head from falling down exhaustingly to the desk.

She felt her heavy eyelids flutter, she was falling asleep and she knew it. She leaned into her palm and let sleep take her in its embrace, allowing herself to close her eyes.

Gold had left Belle alone in the shop to run some errands around town, and he was shocked to find the beauty fast asleep on the desk as he returned. He smiled to himself for a second before taking the cup of coffee in his hand, and noisily placing it on the desk right beside her.

"What the hell?!" She instantly woke up, nearly screaming at the startling noise, hissing at her person who had scared her so.

"You fell asleep" Gold responded, "I had to wake you up somehow"

"A shake on the arm would of done the trick" she glared, arranging the messy sprawled out papers on the desk in an orderly fashion.

"Now, what fun would that be?" he narrowed his eyes at her as she attempted to straighten herself up, fixing her now-bed ridden hair.

"I finished most of the paperwork, I guess I just fell asleep- I-I can finish it now- what time is it?" she turned her gaze to stare up at him and for the first time, Gold truly saw the exhaustion in her eyes. Her bright blue eyes were puffy and red, with somewhat of dark bags underneath them.

"It's about twelve." He responded, then taking pity on the poor girl, he added, "go home, Miss French"

"But.. I'm not done-" she protested, afraid that he would scold her for doing a poor job on her first day.

"Its no matter, I will excuse you for one night, the paper work will be here just as you left it tomorrow, now go get some sleep" His voice was soft now, more sincere than she had ever heard it.

In fact, Mr. Gold, regardless of Belle's protests, insisted that she go home and get some rest, even going so far and grabbing her purse off of the chair and arranging her belongings together for her.

"Thank you" she yawned, collecting her bag from him and flung it over her shoulder, tiredly.

She had reported to him everyday after her shift at the library, filing and sorting out paperwork and business papers. The next day, after receiving a comfortable nine hour sleep, Belle was once again in the shop, sorting out business papers, organizing anything that seemed to be out of order, and even though she wasn't the best filer, Gold found some amusement on having the beauty around.

She sat at his desk, licking her finger and going through a large pile of paper, while Gold sat on the other side, happily sipping his tea. A large tea set sat inbetween them, an expensive looking set, Belle had observed, with a pearly white coating and lapis painted on the charming design on the side.

Just as Belle went to reach for the other large stack of papers across the desk, her clumsy elbow knocked over one of the tea cups that was located at the edge of the desk.

"Oh my god!" she squeaked, horrified, nearly dropping on her knees to pick up the fallen cup. Then handling it in her hands, she grazed her fingers over the newly chipped edge of the ceramic cup.

"I am so sorry" Belle apologized, "But its- its chipped- I mean, you can hardly see it"

From the other side, Gold leaned over, his head cocked, fascinated by her reaction over the collateral piece of ceramic.

"It's just a cup" he insisted, watching her as she nervously got up, fiddling the damaged cup with her fingers.

"Right" she agreed, feeling silly at her actions, placing the chipped cup back on the tray with the others. He continued to watch her as she tried to control her flustered cheeks, burying herself into the paperwork to avoid further eye contact.

* * *

After her shift at the pawn shop, Belle found herself in her sanctuary, the library. She flipped over the "closed" sign to "open" and a bright smile lit up her face. A few people walking nearby had saw the sign change, mostly children and their parents, who had immediately stopped to come in.

Moving behind her desk, she spotted a familiar face, Gaston, and to Belle's chargin, he was carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Gaston, what a surprise" her tone was slightly sarcastic, anyone could tell that she was waiting for the moment when he would leave. He looked disgusted, staring at all the books as if they were poison.

"I still don't know why you spend all of your time in here, Belle, nobody reads anymore"

"Actually, I think that is just you" she growled, lowly, trying to keep busy in his presence to avoid eye contact.

"I brought you these," he cut her off and threw down a dozen roses. "I know roses are your favourite and I was hoping that we could give our relationship another try" Belle reached out the lovely flowers then stopped herself.

"I'm sorry, I can't"

"Look, Belle, I know things ended badly between us last time-"

"Yeah, because you cheated on me" she interrupted him.

"You couldn't expect me to wait though, a man has urges- come on, darling- I think we could make it work, I'm a different man now-"

Belle made a disgusted noise in her throat, he had told her this before, luring her back in, with his stupid flowers and charming toothy grin, but no more. She was done with him.

Customers at the back of the library made their selection, while a few small children stood behind Gaston, waiting to get their book signed out. Belle cleared her throat, "If you'll excuse me, Gaston, there are children actually waiting in line to sign out their books"

"Fine, but if you ever change your mind, you'll know where I'll be" Taking a breath in, she placed the flowers Gaston had left for her aside and smiled when she saw the mayor's kid, Henry walk in.

"Hello, Henry" she greeted a small boy with brown hair warmly, trying to shake off her disgust from her previous customer.

"Are you back for another book?" Belle asked, noticing that Henry had brought his biological mother Emma Swan, the town sheriff into the library as well.

"Do you have anything new?" Henry questioned, his wandering eyes searching the shelves.

"Actually now that you mention it, I do." Belle disappeared underneath her desk and placed a large brown book in front of Henry.

"What's this?" he asked, opening and closing the book, quickly, looking at the colourful pictures that lay inside.

"A book of fairytales, I was cleaning out the back a few days ago and stumbled upon it, it must have been there for a while considering the amount of dust that was on it"

"Wow" Henry flipped through the book "this is awesome! Thank you"

"You're very welcome," the beauty grinned widely at the boy, then at Emma. "You both have a good day now"

She noticed Emma slow down and tell Henry to go ahead , then turning quickly from the exit, the sheriff approached Belle's desk once more.

"Emma, how can I help you?" Belle was confused as to why the sheriff had come back in.

"I noticed Mr. Gold speaking with you at your fathers funeral" Emma began "I just wanted you to know, if you ever need any help with anything, don't hesitate to call me" the sheriff spoke lowly.

"Thank you" Belle replied, pulling her brown curls behind her ears. Gold didn't seem like the over exaggerated monster that people had labeled him to be, working with him was rather.. peaceful. Belle didn't realize how wrong she was.

* * *

**Present**

Belle didn't get out of bed for three days, she didn't eat or sleep. She lay tucked firmly within her nest of warm blankets, her arms wrapped around one of her fluffy white pillows. She heard the door slightly creak open, while Robin made his way over to the bed.

"Here" Robin placed a hot meal next to her bed table, "You have to eat eventually"

He noticed her face was paler than usual, her red lips were faded. "You don't look well" he added, using a calm tone. Robin then turned his attention to the side of her bed, where a large bucket lay with a horrible aroma branching off from it.

"Is that- Belle, have you been getting sick?"

Belle nodded slightly. "It must be from all the stress, I've been vomiting for the past week"

"I want you to go see Dr. Whale" he admitted, holding a cold cloth to her hot forehead. "I know you feel like crap-"

"I don't need to see a doctor, Robin."

"Too late, I'll set up an appointment for this afternoon"

"Fine" Belle agreed. "Tomorrow I'll go see him, but for now can you please just leave me alone"

"No, you've been telling me that for the past couple days. I booked you an appointment for this afternoon"

"You haven't been the same since it happened. I want my best friend back" To Belle's dismay, Robin had got her out of bed and into some proper clothing. They pulled up in the hospital parking lot. The room Belle was instructed to go into was small and cramped, just enough room for a table and a small desk. Robin insisted he come in with her to make sure everything would go well. Doctor Whale walked in with his swaggered walk, while Belle sat on the bed, her legs crossed.

"So what seems to be the problem, Belle?" Whale glanced down on the name that was neatly labelled on his clipboard, searching through papers de any recent history of any medical problems.

"Nothing" the beauty mumbled, "I'm perfectly fine"

"No, she'a not fine!" Robin protested, cutting her off, "she's been strange the last couple weeks, I'm sure you read about the incident at the warehouse in the newspaper"

"Yes, I heard about that, it was something Storybrooke will never forget"

"She's been getting sick ever since, maybe she has some kind of post traumatic stress disorder?"

Whale walked closer to the beauty, instructing her to open her mouth, flashing a flashlight to search for any possible explanations.

"Have you been eating properly?" He asked her.

"Not as much as I used to" she admitted, "but I have been eating pretty normally"

"Any other symptoms other than vomiting?" He questioned, his pen busily marking up the notepad as he asked her questions.

"Dizziness? I don't know, I'm sure there is nothing wrong with me, Dr. Whale, this is all unnecessary"

"Well, let me run some tests just in case. I can do a quick blood examination, the results will be in within no time" he strolled over to a near drawer and pulled out a tiny long needle and a thin glass vile.

"Fine" Belle agreed, crossing her arms defensively, giving Robin an irritated glare.

"Hold out your arm" he instructed, gently grabbing a gold of her forearm and pressing the needle into her delicate porcelain skin. When Whale ran to the lab to get the blood tested, Belle and Robin remained in the room, patiently awaiting the results.

It must have been nearly an hour before Dr. Whale reappeared with a sheet of paper, which Belle assumed were her test results.

"The results are ready" He announced, closing the door behind him as he strolled in.

"Great," she muttered, "can you just cut to the part where you tell us everything is fine, all I want is to return home" Belle confessed, the look of exhaustion in her eyes.

"Well you are correct Miss French, you are perfectly fine" Dr. Whale began, turning to her with a strange smile, one the beauty was unable to read.

"See" Belle growled at Robin, "I told you"

"However" Whale interrupted, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly, "you did test positive for something"

"What?" Belle's voice suddenly turned afraid at what the doctor meant.

"Miss French, I assure you it's nothing bad." He paused slightly before continuing, "but it would seem congratulations are in order, you're nearly nine weeks pregnant"

* * *

**To everyone who thought Gold was dead, surprise! He is very much alive, what kind of rumbelle shipper would I be if I killed him? However, it will not be an easy path for him to return to Belle, who has him? Where is he? Are all questions that will be answered with time. Also leave a review if you feel like it! If I don't feel like the story isn't attracting very many people I might considering abandoning it. So if you're a fan of the story, leave a review and let me know your thoughts! Thanks for reading!**

**Next Chapter: After a week of working at the shop, Belle finds herself with a new dangerous task, and in the present, Belle and Robin deal with Dr. Whale's diagnosis.**


	3. Turning Point

_Nine weeks pregnant, _Dr. Whale's voice echoed through Belle's stunned brain. _How could she not notice? How did the thought not even cross her mind? Was this even possible? _The medical tests had proved her doubts otherwise, she was indeed pregnant._ She was going to have a baby, __Gold's baby._

"Belle?" she heard Robin's voice call from across the room, only seeming like a distant echo, while both Robin and Doctor Whale stared at the beauty, waiting for her to say something.

"Are you absolutely sure I'm pregnant?" was all she could spit out.

Doctor Whale nodded and offered comfort by grabbing her shoulder gently, "I am quite sure, these tests are very accurate and are almost never wrong"

Belle nodded, rubbing her temple gently with smooth even strokes. "I'll leave you two alone" Whale bowed his head gently, collecting his clipboard filled with papers and walking out of the room, the door letting a quiet closing noise as he exited.

"I'm a horrible person" she breathed, choking back tears.

"Don't you say that, Belle, none of this is your fault"

"I didn't even know I was pregnant, Robin, that's how out of it I've been, and on top of that I have also been a pretty shitty friend to you, I know I haven't exactly made your life easy lately"

"What are friends for? You've been through a lot Belle, especially in these past couple months"

"I can promise you now that I am done sulking around the apartment feeling sorry for myself, its time I go back to work and move on with my life"

Robin smiled, the first genuine smile that escaped his lips in months. No longer did the chestnut headed beauty sound like the dreary depressed person she had been for the past couple months, but instead she sounded like her normal self again.

"So what are you going to do now? Are- are you going to get it taken care of?"

"Robin! I am under no circumstances getting an abortion, I'm having this baby, regardless to what it's father has done"

"I didn't mean to offend you. I respect whatever decision you make, but you should do whats best for you right now"

"I know you're just looking out for me" Belle spoke, "I'm just really moody"

"Hormonal," he corrected, "you're nine months pregnant after all, the hormones had to kick in sometime"

Robin'a comment made Belle grin, while she traced the tips of her painted fingernails along the bottom of her knitted sweater, wondering and imagining the perfect little baby growing inside of her.

"Regina's here, she's waiting outside," he told her, "she wants to know if you're alright, she has been quite worried about you"

"That was nice of her to come, you two really like each other don't you?" Belle asked innocently while Robin have a brief head nod, "I think I'm falling in love with her"

"Then go see her, tell her what's going on" Belle suggested, gesturing towards the door, "I'm sure I can manage being by myself for the next few minutes"

Then, taking Belle's advise, Robin shut the door behind him, strolling over to the waiting area where Regina sat patiently, legs crossed With her red purse resting on the top of her lap. Regina stood up to greet Robin with a quick kiss on the lips.

"What did the doctor say? How is Belle doing?"

Robin stared down at his boots before catching her gaze. "Belle's two months pregnant"

He watched as Regina's mouth nearly dropped to the floor with the news.

"Belle seems a lot stronger though," he tried to explain the difficult situation, "she wants to move on with her life"

"I'm glad" Regina smiled, "I know she will overcome this, she's a very strong girl"

"I certainly hope so, for Belle's sake anyway, it will be good for her to rid herself of the effect Gold had on her life. But I know one thing for certain, I'm going to find that son of a bitch for abandoning her"

Robin paused for a moment attempting to control his anger, "No matter how long it takes, or what I have to do, I am going to find Robert Gold"

* * *

Belle had gotten to know the pawn shop rather well, from behind the small wooden desk she was stuck behind all day she knew where each item and piece of paper belonged. And asides from the persistent criticism from Mr. Gold, it hadn't been too bad, everything slowly fell into a casual normal routine.

The shop was so silent that the sound of her pen scratching across the paper sounded throughout the entire space. Suddenly, the beauty was frightened by the sound of the front door whipping open, creating a slight gust of wind.

Jefferson stormed into the shop, swinging the red front door wide open in the process and shutting it with a loud slam.

"Its happening again" he informed Gold, calling to the back of the shop. Belle turned her head and pretended to be uninterested in their conversation.

"Why have a never seen you here around before?" Jefferson's attention turned to Belle, "because if we've met before, in pretty sure I would have remembered"

The beauty cleared her throat uncomfortably and drew in a quick breath, "Mr. Gold!"

"What's happening?" There was a worried tone in Gold's voice as he came out of the back of the shop.

"The bastard that has been messing around with our warehouse" Jefferson hissed, "he has returned, he blew up an order of our shipments last night"

"I thought you killed him" Gold spat, "you told me you finished the job"

Through this heated argument, Belle wished she could take her paperwork somewhere else, somewhere quiet, somewhere where she wouldn't hear their illegal business.

"I thought I did take care of it, but I guess I got the wrong guy" he confessed, obviously irritated.

"So it would seem" Gold didn't sound impressed. "We cannot allow this hooded figure to phase us any longer. We must take him out."

"But how? We've tried everything.. Unless"

"Unless what?" Gold wasn't amused with the guessing game, his gave remained straight and stern.

"We need someone to go undercover" Jefferson stated, "someone to snoop a round and identify whoever this fiend is, no one anyone in this town would ever expect" his wandering green eyes examining the room, his green eyes fixed on the Beauty.

Jefferson exchanged brief glances with Gold, and he knew exactly what idiotic idea that his hit-man was suggesting.

"She would do perfect, they wouldn't suspect an elementary school teacher to be in with us!" the hit-man insisted to his boss.

"Actually, I'm the librarian" Belle spoke up, interjecting Jefferson'a comment.

"Even better!" He exclaimed.

"Absolutely not!" Gold hissed. "She's an perplexed gullible girl, too immature for this business, she's nothing but someone to file our papers"

"You both know I'm sitting right over here." Belle called to the men, interrupting both of them, who continued to ignore her, too blinded and focused on their plan.

"Its a chance that we can finally find this person, and put an end to them once and for all"

"Wait" Belle swallowed the lump in her throat fearfully, "You mean when you find them, you are going to kill them?"

"Dearie, none of this concerns you" Gold's accented words causing her to snap.

"It certainly does concern me!" She protested, standing out of her chair to defend herself and stand her ground, "especially because Jefferson is throwing my name around to go undercover for you- doing god knows what!"

"Going undercover" Jefferson clarified, completing his statement with a short toothy smile.

"Undercover for what? Who exactly are you up against?"

"There's someone who has been killing our men at our warehouse, stealing from us, he's costing us thousands of dollars" Gold clarified, before turning back towards the Jefferson.

"So if you don't know who they are, how do you expect me to find them?" she asked.

Jefferson turned to face Gold before responding to Belle, he gave him a cold stare and shook his head, hinting that no more of this should be spoken.

"There's a party tomorrow night, and we have a strong intuition from our outside sources that the very person who has been attacking us will most likely be there. That's why we need someone to go undercover- we cannot show our faces there, the fiend will get one glimpse of us and run before we can identify them." Jefferson explained to the beauty, against his boss's wishes.

"But as I said" Gold cut in "she is not doing it"

"That's for sure" Belle agreed, brushing her hands through her tied back hair, tying it into a curly neat ponytail.

"Why not?" Jefferson boldly asked "This is an good idea! She would be at a public event and would be in no danger, and I'm sure if the girl got a group of suspects, her time here would be decreased" she raised her brows slyly, at Gold, who once more, exchanged looks with Jefferson.

"Also we would pay you handsomely" he pointed out, slyly raising a brow. The beauty imagined the endless flow of cash she would be rewarded with, the more money she had, the less time she would be stuck in the pawn shop.

The silence took over the shop as Belle and Jefferson stared at one another for a while, until finally turning to Gold for final approval. He knew by the look in the beauty's eyes that he was now outnumbered. Jefferson had a point, she would be a very good asset if she was able to pull off this task.

"Fine" Gold growled, "But you'll need something nice to wear, the mayor Regina Mills is throwing this party after all"

"I'm sure I have something in my closet-"

"That isn't necessary" Gold cut in, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his thick black leather wallet.

"Here" he reluctantly handed her a shiny silver visa. "This will allow you to purchase whatever you deem appropriate for tomorrow evening, you need to blend in with all these rich people." Belle took his card in hand and hesitantly placed it into her purse.

"Stop by the shop before you go, then we can hook you up with a camera, that way, we see whatever you see"

"Wouldn't everyone notice a camera?" Belle asked, confused on the subject.

"A regular camera perhaps, but the perks of you going undercover, there are multiple places to hide a small camera"

"Like in your bra" Jefferson smirked.

"A bra camera?" Belle let out a shy nervous laugh, "You better hope my ex-boyfriend Gaston isn't at this party, he'll find that in a second" she started to laugh harder, only gaining confused looks from the two unimpressed men that stood in front of her.

"Sorry" Belle apologized, stopping her laugh with a brisk cough, "I don't know why I just said that."

"You better get going Miss French, its nearly 4pm, that gives you a few hours to prepare yourself for the party"

She closed the door. Had she agreed to get into the gang lords business? Suddenly she felt anxious, but for now, she had some shopping to do.

* * *

Belle slipped on her tight lapis dress and black heels That she had purchased at Storybrooke's finest clothing store. Her hair she wore down with long flowing curls. She had allowed herself to spend Golds credit card luxuriously. She glanced at the clock above her bed. 6:59.

Shit. She was going to be late.

She walked into the pawnshop, her heels clicking on the dark hardwood floor. She spotted Jefferson and Gold near the back, she couldn't make out the words they were saying to each other but she noticed when they both stopped and faced towards them.

They both had stopped mid-conversation acknowledge the dolled up librarian.

"Wow, you look amazing" Jefferson's eyes grew wide with attraction. While Belle smiled and blushed a little at his comment, staring down to look at her feet bashfully before glancing up to look at her boss.

"What do you think Mr. Gold?"

_Oh_ god, he thought,_ She was asking for his opinion._

"You look presentable" he replied, averting his eyes from looking her up and down. He cleared the bubble that had formed in his throat, "are you ready?" Gold asked her once the room got silent again.

"Ready as I'll ever be" she admitted, tugging on the bottom lace of her blue dress to attempt to pull it down her thighs to cover herself up.

"This" Gold held up, "is a very advanced technological device. This tiny camera will be able to film everything you do and see from m Jefferson's laptop. It will be like we are at the party with you"

Gold moved closer to Belle in that moment, camera in hand and attempted to attach it to the front of her dress. When he accidently stumbled upon the tops of her black lacy bra, she noticed his cheeks turn pink.

_He was blushing, the man that everyone was afraid of was blushing, all because of a bra camera. _Belle wanted to giggle but she didn't dare, not at a time like this, not at a time where she might be deemed as childish.

"I can do it" she interjected, observing his struggle, taking control over the tiny camera. Belle then took the small device out of his hands and clipped it on the side of her dress.

"There" she stated, "all set."

"Be back here at twelve sharp" Jefferson added, "we will be waiting patiently for your return, Belle"

"I kinda feel like Cinderella" Belle admitted, "getting dolled up, being requested at midnight"

"Yes, yes," Golf cut her off, "just don't go losing a shoe now, those were extremely expensive"

* * *

**Sorry guys! My computer went in to be repaired and I was unable to update. Thanks for being patient, I know it can be a hard thing to do. Anyway thank you for your reviews, they truly do mean a lot and keep me writing. Thanks for reading!**

**Next Chapter: Belle attends Regina's party under orders from Gold and in the present, Belle comes to terms with her pregnancy, while Robin tries to search for the missing Gold.**


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